The bout continued but Hicks was thrown off his game, throwing wild, arching punches and trying for the one-punch knockout.

Walker continued to taunt Hicks, winking at him after clenches and even lifted Hicks off the ground at one point.

"The bite threw me off, that's about it," Hicks said after the fight. "You can actually see a little bit of the teeth mark if you get close. It was a bite."

Father of the fighter Tipton Walker Sr. claimed it was a rope burn that occurred when the two clenched.

"It was the rope, his head was between the ropes, I saw it," Walker Sr. said.

After being dominating the second round, Walker continued to use his jab while Hicks lunged forward.

"I figured out I could time him and I had it in the bag then," Walker said.

That didn't stop him from continuing his mental assault on Hicks, pushing him to the canvas after a clench.

"He's a dirty fighter," Hicks said. "I need to get in there and grind it out more. Not cheat, but get inside more and get my work done."

With both fighters advancing to next week's state competition, Hicks may get the opportunity, but Walker says the outcome won't be any different.

"I'm going to beat him again and go to nationals," he said.

Earlier in the night Eli Rodas, who fights out of the MGGA-St. Mary's Gym in Grand Rapids defeated Lucas Proffitt of Crown Boxing in Lansing to win the 141-pound sub-novice title.

"This is my first year doing this. I'm not even a year into boxing but I feel happy with the achievement I've had," Rodas said.

Rodas and Proffitt studied each other early, neither showing much action to start the fight. Proffitt began working his jab but Rodas was able to find openings and began counter-punching and landing solid shots.

"From the start I began working my timing through," Rodas said. "What I do in training I try to bring out in the ring too so timing and figuring out where to put the shots was the key for me today."

Hearing that put a smile on Rodas' trainer, Benito Cerda.

"He's in the gym every day," Cerda said. "If he misses a day he comes back and puts extra effort in to make up for it."

"He puts all his mind into what he's doing. Whatever I say to him, he learns. I love it. I'm proud when they do this and have a good attitude. It's pretty cool."

Boxer had kind words for his trainer as well.

"My trainer Benito, he's been teaching me a lot, so as I go I learn more and more and he tells me how to find those places (to hit)," Rodas said. "It feels awesome. It's the best feeling in the world."

Andrew Muyskens of The Fire Within - Team Cisneros Boxing of Holland fought to a close decision win against Damon Baker, also of Crown Boxing.

Two judges scored the fight 29-28 and 29-28 for Muyskens and one had it 29-28 for Baker, giving the split-decision to Muyskens.

"I thought I was going to lose, to be honest," Muyskens said. "I didn't think I did enough in that second round."

Muyskens said he's been focusing so much on these fights, he was happy to have a close bout.

"I feel like I earned this," Muyskens said. "I didn't want it to be a walk-over fight or one that I dominated, I wanted to fight. So I know where I'm at and what I need to work on and I'm very excited to be going to state."

MGGA-St. Mary's Burim Beqiri received the Stanley Ketchel Spirit Award while King Damon Antoine was presented the Outstanding Open Boxer award.

Both winners and runner-ups advance to state competition on Friday and Saturday of next weekend.